1000Pks wrote: They go to lengths to catch illegal campers, they have eyes and a lot of experience doing such.

Jereds, if you have no reservations or good plans, please stay home or find something else to do. Unless you like $1000 fines and maybe some jail time.

No, they don't go to lengths, that's the main point. They check the cars at the turnouts, cruise the parking lots and campgrounds and keep people from speeding and killing bears and themselves.

Good Lord, you're just sleeping in the woods or on a slab of rock and you're gone in the morning. You don't need a tent. What they *really* don't want is people making campsites and fire rings and leaving shit around. Leave No Trace - it's not hard.

Just dayhiked Lyell and Maclure two weekends ago, and the glacier was in pretty atrocious shape: suncups deep enough to hide a body; lots of running water; hopping from ridge to ridge over the cups was a sloppy, slick mess.

I'd recommend hitting Maclure first and heading up the ridge from the saddle, thereby avoiding the glacier entirely. That way you can leave the crampons/axe at home as well.

whoa that's like 28 miles right? def planning on doing a much slower pace than that. if we ARE able to get a permit it'll be a 2 or 3 day thing, nice and slow. otherwise we'll break it up and do a few different hikes.

What Bob said.
And not what Pete said. (Jail time for sleeping in your car at a trailhead? )

The Rangers do a cursory check for flagrant violators. Usually as part of their dawn patrol. You'll see them do this every morning- one Ranger drives the length of the Tuolumne area at dawn and spot checks the parking lots with the floodlight. This isn't an exhaustive search- There have been times when I've been sleeping in my vehicle and they passed right over me. And if they do catch folks they will usually just make them leave rather than start handing out fines.

It is *highly* unlikely if you have parked legally and wandered a hundred yards into the woods and bivvied that they will come looking for you.
This isn't Jack Bauer Ninja Ranger with night vision goggles, it likely a hung over junior ranger who drew short straw for the morning rounds.

With that said, If I need to sleep in my vehicle I'll usually go do it on SaddleBack lake road. This is sufficient elevation for acclimation and get you out of park and out of the Yosemite Ranger patrol routes.

They *do* speed trap the living hell out of the area near the Tuolumne Campground (where it dips to 25mph for a few hundred yards), so watch out for that. And don't keep food/scented items in your car. The bear risk is legitimate.

If they write you a ticket, it's a federal thing, not California, so you can't avoid the point(s) by taking traffic school. And it will go on your driving record and affect your auto insurance. Ask me how I know

Not sure how much time up there you're planning to spend, but if you can get up a day early you can (nearly) guarantee yourself a walk-up permit. Walk-up permits are released the day before you leave, so if you want to head out on Saturday, be first in line at the ranger station Friday morning. You'll get a permit.

Keep in mind that first in line usually means grabbing a spot on the porch before 6am, but Lyell canyon has a good number of walk-ups available so being first in line isn't usually critical.

In terms of car-camping, I tend to pull over in the overflow parking for the various campsites just below Tioga Pass and near the resort to sleep. I've been spooked parking on the Saddlebag Lake road - its a little too isolated for me to have random people driving in and out during the night.